More than anyone else, its children who need a healthy and balanced diet to grow in a well developed manner. They need food from all food groups and all important vitamins and minerals, not just for today but for the future too. Children rely on their parents or guardians to provide them with healthy balanced diet and also make sure they compensate for any nutrients lost in the diet of their children. And as adults we can very well make informed decisions about how we want to nurture our children’s body.
Children who follow vegan diet without any dietary advice and medication carry the risk of deficiencies of various vitamins and nutrients like deficiency of calcium and vitamin B12, also deficiency of high quality protein which can have adverse effects on the health of children.
A study also shows that children who eat vegan diet are smaller in height and leaner as compared to children who consume non vegetarian or vegetarian diets.
It is quite difficult to guarantee balanced and healthy vegan diet in young infants, and thus if a parent is seeking a vegan diet for their child, they must strictly follow dietary advice to make sure their child receives required amount of nutrition.
The biggest risk to a vegan child is of deficiency of vitamin B12. Foods that are derived from animals are to be the only reliable source of vitamin B12 and a deficiency of the vitamin can have terrible effects on one’s health. Vitamin B12 is very important in the creation of DNA, essential for the maintenance of the nervous system. Deficiency of vitamin B12 can result in neurological and hematological disorders in young children.
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A child needs both vegetable and animal protein for growth. Feeding a child only with vegetarian food is not healthy.